Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jun

Heroes Of Might And Magic 3 Comes To Android <INSERT EXTREME EXCITEMENT HERE>

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Games, News

Last Updated: June 22nd, 2011

Fans of the Heroes of Might and Magic series, you may want to sit down for this one. Mere months after so successfully porting the Heroes of Might and Magic 2 (HOMM2) game engine to Android (see our review), the very same developer, a brilliant man by the name of pelya, now managed to do the same with the Heroes of Might and Magic 3 engine, dubbed VCMI.

Just like with the previous port, VCMI requires original game files to play, which I'm anxiously scrambling to dig up around the house right now. Alternatively, you can purchase the full HOMM3 game at GOG.com for $9.99 and dive right in.

Jun

Confirmed: Motorola To Make Bootloaders On Current Devices Unlockable In "Late 2011" - Where Carriers Allow It

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, Motorola, News

A few months ago, Motorola announced that its "portfolio of devices" will be graced with unlockable/relockable bootloaders in late 2011. However, there was some confusion over whether this concerned future handsets only or current devices as well.

Yesterday, Ausdroid reported that unlocked bootloaders will be coming to all existing Motorola Android devices (or rather, those still on Moto's update schedule) later this year via a software update. Needless to say, this was excellent news, and it had many a DROID X user jumping for joy.

To confirm, we reached out to Motorola - here's what we got in response:

Motorola has announced we will enable an unlockable/relockable bootloader in future software releases where channel and operator partners will allow it.

Jun

[Updated: Now On Amazon Too] Toshiba Thrive Pre-Orders Live On Toshiba Direct Starting At $429, Shipping In Mid-July

Posted by David Ruddock in News, Tablets, Thrive / Regza / Antares / AT100, Tips & Tutorials, Toshiba

Update 6/14/11: All 3 Thrive variations are now on Amazon as well, for those who prefer themselves some tax-free shopping.

Ever since we saw Toshiba's then-unnamed tablet at CES in January, we've carefully put our ears to the ground to learn all we can about this surprisingly capable device. Today's Thrive news, then, has us excited - pre-orders have started, and all iterations of the tablet (8/16/32GB) will be shipping on the same yet-to-be-announced date next month (Toshiba's site now says "Mid-July").

Unlike the Office Depot pre-order, Toshiba Direct allows you to order the thriftier 8GB model, which comes in at a very reasonable $429.

Jun

[Updated] HTC: No Gingerbread For The Desire - Because It Can't Handle It

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Desire (Bravo/BravoC), News

Last Updated: June 16th, 2011

Update: HTC backpedaled on this issue quicker than ever before and announced plans to follow through with the Gingerbread upgrade after all.

Are you ready for some Tuesday morning bad news? If you own an HTC Desire, brace yourself -- it looks like your dreams of ever seeing Gingerbread officially hit your device have been crushed. I know it stings, but here is the official word from the HTC UK Facebook page:

Our engineering teams have been working hard for the past few months to find a way to bring Gingerbread to the HTC Desire without compromising the HTC Sense experience you’ve come to expect from our phones.

Jun

Swype 3.0 Beta Released, Includes Improvements To Prediction And Touch Typing

Posted by Matt Demers in Applications, News

The Swype team released a new round of improvements to their keyboard replacement software this evening. With this update, users can expect improvements to the "traditional" way of typing, as the correction engine that is used in the Swype method has been applied there as well.

Other improvements include better support for Android tablets, a simplified registration process, a new method of choosing words (in a horizontal menu, as opposed to a popup) and other improvements. You can find a complete list of their changes below:

Swype v3 introduces two major new features: Tap Correction and Horizontal Word Choice List
Our Tap Correction engine utilizes many of the concepts that make swyping so accurate.

Jun

[Deal Alert] Pre-Order The HTC EVO 3D For $150 From Wirefly

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Deals, EVO 3D (Shooter), News

Today must be a good day for deals - first the Acer Iconia Tab A500 for $380, and now the Wirefly has the HTC EVO 3D for $150 with a two-year agreement. Considering that this device isn't slated to hit shelves for another two weeks, this is an excellent price (the lowest we've seen yet).

Specs:

4.3 Inch qHD Super-LCD display
1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor
1GB RAM
5MP rear shooter with 3D video and image capture
1.3MP front camera
4GB built-in storage
Android 2.3 with Sense 3.0

To add a bit more awesome to the deal, if you use Sprint's Buyback Program, there's a chance that you could get basically score this upgrade for free.

Jun

Exclusive: New Sprint Plans For The HTC EVO View 4G

Posted by Cameron Summerson in EVO View 4G, Exclusives, News, Sprint

Last Updated: June 5th, 2012

Since the upcoming HTC EVO View 4G will be Sprint's first WiMAX-capable tablet, the Now Network decided to tweak its tablet plans a bit. The baseline price is quite similar to the current tablet plan pricing: 1GB for $20, 3GB for $45, and 5GB for $60. It does, however, include a few new options, namely a new 10GB plan for $90 a month and the addition of unlimited 4G data for a 3GB plan or higher.

If you notice, there are two sets of prices there - MRC and Bundled MRC. The latter is a special price point for existing Sprint customers with qualifying unlimited smartphone plans.

Jun

Tesco Now Testing In-Store Navigation System Accessible From Your Android Phone

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Applications, News, Off-Topic

Let's face it: large physical retail stores can be difficult to navigate at times, especially for first-time shoppers. To help alleviate this problem, UK retailer Tesco (informally known as the European Walmart) has developed and is now testing an in-store GPS system that can be accessed from an Android phone.

Upon opening the app, you'll be greeted with an empty shopping list which you can fill with any and all products available at Tesco. This isn't just any shopping list, however; step into the Tesco Extra store in northeast London and a comprehensive store map will appear on your handset, complete with the locations of all the items on your list.

Jun

DROID 3 Gets In-Depth Hands-On: Pentile Display And Puny Amounts Of RAM Included

Posted by David Ruddock in Droid 3, Motorola, News

The DROID 3, like the DROID 2, has been pretty lax about showing itself off prior to any sort of official announcement from Motorola. Today, the DROID 3 has been all but fully revealed by a member over at XDA China. Two things from that post immediately caught our attention: a qHD Pentile display, and 512MB of RAM. Both of them should make you queasy.

We aren't big fans of Moto's Pentile qHD displays, particularly as it appeared on the DROID X2. If your vision is good, and you hold your phone at a normal distance from your face (read: about one foot - not three), Pentile looks like crap - there's little argument.

Jun

Virgin Mobile Doesn't Approve Of Rooting Or Custom ROMs, Even If It Does Like Vanilla Android

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Carriers, News, Virgin Mobile

Remember how we ran that story last week about Virgin Mobile laying the smackdown on manufacturer UI overlays? We liked that. But Virgin Mobile wants the Android community to know that they shouldn't consider the prepaid carrier a safe haven for illicit activities like rooting or custom ROMs - not that that's any different from all the other carriers. Here's what Virgin had to say:

"We do not endorse in any way end users using a non-officially tested operating system nor do we approve of 'rooting' devices. This constitutes a violation of our terms of service and puts our network in jeopardy," a spokesperson said.